


Taking Notice

by rubycrowned



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-25
Updated: 2012-02-25
Packaged: 2017-10-31 17:23:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/346579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubycrowned/pseuds/rubycrowned
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony and Steve don't exactly hit it off immediately...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Taking Notice

**Author's Note:**

> Tony/Steve head canon from the Avengers Superbowl trailer - you know the bit I mean.
> 
> Also, this is my first fic, so any comments or pointers would be gratefully recieved :D

Tony would never admit to it, but he was a little nervous about meeting Steve Rogers. C’mon, the man’s Captain-freakin’-America. The guy’s a legend - and Tony didn’t just mean to the world. Tony had idolized him. He was the man that Tony dressed up as 3 Halloweens in a row, who he’d wish for on birthday candles. Whose stories of adventure were one of the only memories Tony had of bonding between him and his father. So yes, Tony Stark was a little apprehensive of finally meeting his hero that the world had given up on as dead. Everyone except Howard.

“Big man in a suit of armour. Take that away, what are you?”

“Uh…genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist?” Tony really had a talent for this. It had to be a record for shortest amount of time taken to turn someone completely off you, even for him. He hadn’t meant for this to happen. But when Tony gets nervous, he gets sarcastic (well if anything happens, Tony gets sarcastic, but that’s beside the point), and apparently sarcasm was invented some time  _after_ the 1940’s. That or Fury had been keeping him around SHIELD agents for too long.

Thor may have chuckled (Tony wasn’t entirely convinced it was because he understood), but Captain America couldn’t have looked less amused.

So much for impressing his childhood hero.

-

Things had only gotten worse between the two since Steve first met Tony Stark. Sometimes he couldn’t believe that this man was related to Howard Stark. Sure they were both incredibly smart, and both received more than enough attention from the dames, but besides that and a certain swagger that occasionally made Steve blink back memories as Tony sauntered down the corridor, Steve couldn’t – okay so maybe there was more than a passing resemblance between the two, but Howard had been Steve’s  _friend_. He might have been a little rough around the edges, but he was a good man. Steve never would have saved Bucky, he never would’ve become  _Captain America_  if it wasn’t for Howard Stark.

Tony on the other hand was…smug. He knew what he was doing, and apparently he was useful in that big flying armour he wore – Iron Man – but he was overconfident. What was it he said? “ _I don’t play well with others”._  That may have been an understatement. It was like he didn’t know how to interact normally with other people. It was enough of a problem that he didn’t seem to be able to follow orders –  _that_  was going to be interesting when they were finally put in the field – but he seemed incapable of having a conversation for longer than a few seconds without turning into, well, a complete jerk.

The others didn’t seem to have as much of a problem with him. Natasha appeared to have known him for a while, before Fury formed the team, and usually just rolled her eyes at him. Although Tony was probably more polite to her than most – Steve  _had_  thought that maybe he was just being polite to the lone  ~~­dame~~   _woman_  in the team, but the more he watched, the more he started to think maybe Tony was ­ _nervous_  around her.  To be honest, Steve wasn’t that confident around her either; so many knives (Steve had no idea where she kept them all). Clint Barton was almost as sarcastic as Tony, although more sociable in Steve’s opinion, so they got on fairly well, bantering ruthlessly with each other. Thor was such a good-natured man (Steve hadn’t quite gotten his head around the idea that he was an honest-to-goodness  _god_  yet) that no one on the team seemed able to dislike him – he once thought he’d even seen Natasha crack a smile on his behalf. If anything, Thor seemed almost defensive of Tony, even though the God of Thunder seemed almost as lost in this world as Steve sometimes. Bruce was probably the only one who avoided Tony as much as Steve did (no, Tony avoided  _Steve_  - Steve just didn’t make quite as much of an effort as with the others perhaps), but Steve had a feeling that was more to do with maintaining his blood pressure than a personal dislike of the man.  Tony Stark didn’t exactly have a calming effect at the best of times.

Steve kept telling himself he would try to get to know Tony, if only for Howard’s sake, but even that ended badly.  It started off well enough - for once, the two of them had managed to speak more than two words to each other without starting a fight.  All he did was mention to Tony how similar the two of them looked – he meant to say how comforting it was to see something familiar amongst the ocean of change he’d been dumped in head first.  But as soon as the name “Howard” had crossed Steve’s lips, the spark in Tony’s eyes had flickered out, his jaw tightening and, before Steve had even realised what happened, Tony was already making excuses to head back to his workshop. He’d hardly seen him since, except for training.

-

_ Why was he such an IDIOT? _  Tony threw a dirty rag across the workshop. Better than tossing the half-repaired gauntlet that was sitting next to it. There was just something about that damn Captain America and his high horse that ground his gears. Tony was trying to be more of a team player, he really was. And he was finding he genuinely  _liked_  some of the other guys (and girl – although Natasha still terrified him a little), which was an unexpectedly pleasant surprise. If only he didn’t put his foot in his mouth.  _At. Every. Single. Opportunity_  his brain reminded him. Not that Steve helped. For such a superior being – and god could Tony list some ways he was superior - he didn’t have much in the way of tact. Tony didn’t care how buddy-buddy his father and Captain America were back in the good ol’ days, or what a great man Howard Stark was. He never knew that man, and he didn’t need to be reminded of his own shortcomings as a bonus. Steve obviously didn’t think much of Tony Stark, only just tolerating him for Iron Man (barely). He made that clear enough the first time they met.

Well fine. If Steve didn’t want to be friends, so be it. Tony could stay out of his way. He had plenty of other things he could be doing. He could be useful, regardless of what Steve thought.

-

The fight had been tough. It was the first time the team had fought together against an enemy, rather than the simulator Fury had set up. The ‘enemy’ was some form of giant rats that had come up from the sewers and were running loose around downtown Manhattan – they were taken care of easily enough but not before some considerable damage had been done. They had worked well together, not without some issues, but Steve was pretty sure that the kinks would work themselves out with practice. Hawkeye’s accuracy, Thor and the Hulk’s amazing strength, Black Widow’s lethal skill – all were assets which when working together could turn them from something good into a force to be reckoned with.

And then there was Iron Man. Steve had heard he was good. He had heard he was…stubborn (Fury had given him a slightly more colourful description). He had seen him in training, when Tony wasn’t locked up in his workshop. None of it quite prepared him for the sight of Iron Man in action. He was sleek, powerful, and everywhere. He should talk to him about that later – while he could hardly be faulted for doing a bad job, he was taking too many risks. It was like he was taking the entire responsibility for the fight on his shoulders.  And every time Steve caught a glimpse of him diving in at the last minute, sending a repulsor beam towards a rat that was heading just a little close to Clint, he felt something twinge in his chest. Something he really didn’t want to inspect too closely right now.

And when the fight was over, and the team was helping remove the worst of the debris from the streets, Iron Man had removed his face plate. He was back to Tony Stark, the genius billionaire with the smart mouth that didn’t know when to quit. And Tony Stark was busy handing what looked to be a rather dusty stuffed bunny back to a young girl – she couldn’t have been older than about 4 – who had ventured back out onto the streets with her parents.

Maybe Steve was wrong about Tony.

-

“Mr. Stark”.

The voice coming from behind him, although not completely unexpected, still sent a slight shiver up Tony’s back.  _Strange_. It sounded almost hesitant compared to the commanding tones he usually heard from Steve. He straightened and squared his shoulders, arranging his face into what he hoped was indifference before turning around.

“Captain”.  _Damn! Why do you always have to be so sarcastic with him? Well…_ No. Tony wasn’t going to think about it. Steve had probably come up to tell him what a horrific job he’d done today against those nasty sewer rats – the city really needs to keep an eye on what gets dumped down there because there are some really screwed up mutations coming out of those-  _FOCUS._   _Today you were average at best – you weren’t fast enough; Natasha almost got knocked flat by one of the rodent’s tails after you sent it flying with a blast; you almost flew straight into Thor at one point. Maybe if I adjusted the gauntlets so that the repulsors…_ At least Tony managed to get control over the smirk (mostly) that was threatening to take over his face.

“Mr. Stark, about today-”

“-I know, I know. I underestimated the enemy, the suit wasn’t up to scratch, and I got in just about everyone’s way. Pretty much the only person I  _didn’t_  take out was the Hulk – and he was having so much fun smashing the rats into each other that if I had smacked into him  _god knows_  what he would have done to me for ruining it. So…I’m sorry, okay? It won’t happen again, I mean I’ll try not to let it – I’m heading down to the workshop now actually, I think if I can fix the problem with the-”

“Tony!”

“-I could…yes?” Tony blinked several times. Captain America – still in full costume – was standing quite close to him now. He had to look up to catch his- _Wow those eyes are really blue.  I mean, how is this guy even real?_

“Look, Tony –  _I_  came up here tonight to apologise to  _you._ ” Tony’s mouth dropped open a little as he automatically went to contradict him, but the other man hurried on before he could interrupt ( _Maybe he does know something about me after all. That or he’s been getting lessons from Pepper_ ). “I know we got off on the wrong-” Steve shook his head, “I was paying attention to you today,” Tony’s eyesight must be failing him, he could swear he could see a slight blush starting to colour Steve’s features, “I mean, I was paying attention to the whole team today – trying to figure out how we worked, what the dynamics are, where we need to pick up the slack-”

“-and I’m sorry. I am. I know I let you down, and I apologise. And that is rare for me. Seriously. Ask Pepper how many times she ever gets me to admit that I did something bad-”

“ _Tony!_  You aren’t listening to me.  _I was wrong._  I said all those things when we first met, but  _I was wrong._  I didn’t know you. I didn’t know what you could do. And I didn’t give you a chance to show me. But I’m watching now. You’re too hard on yourself – you fought off more than your fair share of those vermin today, and somehow managed to protect your teammate’s backs at the same time. I don’t know what else you thought you ought to have been doing Tony. My only criticism would be to tell you to slow down and stop taking so many risks. We’re all heroes – we can look after ourselves. If you’re too busy watching all our backs, who’s looking after yours? You’re too valuable to get hurt taking needless risks. But, Tony. You did good.”

By this point Tony’s eyes were almost as wide as saucers, and his brain felt like it had been left out on the sidewalk on a hot day, trying to take in what Steve had said. He focused on the small part he could grab hold of.

“You’ve never called me Tony before.”

Steve looked surprised, and more than a little confused at this turn in the conversation. “Haven’t I?”

“No…it’s always been Stark – Mr. Stark if you include just now – or Iron Man”

“Huh…is it okay if I call you Tony?”

“Yeah, I guess – I mean, I don’t see why not.”

“Good. I meant what I said, Tony. I know I never gave you a chance before, but after today – the fight, and after – I’d like to get to know you. I’d like to have your back, and I’d be honoured to think you had mine.”

“Yes. Good.”  _Why can’t I string a coherent thought together? This is getting ridiculous, Tony, pull yourself together._  “I think I’d like that.” Throughout the conversation, Tony now realised they’d somehow gotten even closer to each other. Suddenly the air became rather heated, and Tony found himself flushing.  _Time to go_. “I mean, if I were you, I’d rather like to have me on my back too.”  _Oh my god Tony what are you saying. Leave. Now._  “However, I wasn’t joking about the gauntlets – I really do need to fix the wiring in the…so I’m going to go and try get that started while it’s still early. Good talking, yeah? See you tomorrow – I’m sure Fury has some god awful debrief set up for us, and because I’m such an amazing teammate I’ll even make sure I turn up for most of it.”

And then Tony was gone, rushing out of the office almost comically fast, leaving an ever so slightly amused Steve leaning against his desk, watching the other man’s flight.

-

“I still can’t believe you couldn’t see my brilliance immediately you know.” Steve feels more than hears Tony’s words as they tickle the hairs on the back of his neck.

“It’s not my fault that you have the incredible ability to be such a smart-mouthed ass, you know”

“Captain  _America_ , watch that filthy mouth!”

Steve rolled over and kissed Tony quickly on the forehead, before lying back on the pillows with Tony’s head resting comfortably on his chest. He raised an eyebrow, even though he knew Tony wouldn’t see it.

“You didn’t seem to mind it earlier.”

“Yes, well, you did learn from the best after all.”

Steve chuckled as he slowly carded his fingers through the other man’s eternally mussed hair. “Go to sleep, Tony.”

“Mmmm, yes.” Tony lazily fumbled round for Steve’s other hand and interlocked their fingers on Steve’s stomach. They lay there, wrapped comfortably in each other for a few minutes, Steve almost drifting off-

“Steve?”

“Yes, Tony?”

“I’m glad you decided to start watching."

-


End file.
